Science and medicine down under.

Western Australia is famous for its wild flowers, but its doctors are even wilder. Or so Bruce Shepherd, president of the Australian Medical Association (and a Sydneysider), told the opening session of the BMA's overseas meeting in Perth. The BMA arrived in Perth in early November to find not only a vast isolated land of desert and sea but also streets with Scottish names and Father Christmases, reindeer, and gnomes preparing to sweat their way through summer temperatures that will top 40°C many times.